Dental Conditions Contribute to Avoidable Emergency Department Visits

Dental Conditions Contribute to Avoidable Emergency Department Visits

Dental

conditions, alcohol abuse, and depression were the top reasons for avoidable

emergency department visits nationally, according to a University of

California, San Francisco (UCSF) study published in the International Journal for Quality in Health Care. The paper,

“Avoidable Emergency Department Visits: A Starting Point,” used data from 424

million emergency department visits in the United States from 2005 to 2011. The

investigators report that unnecessary visits could be reduced by increasing

access to dental and mental health services, because emergency departments are

designed to treat patients in immediate physical danger, not to provide specialty

care. 

The

researchers determined that 3.3% of the visits (ie, 1.4 million interactions) that

occurred over the 7-year study period led to patients being discharged without

receiving adequate care. In addition, the authors note that nearly 17% of all

visits for mood-related disorders were avoidable, as were 10.4% of alcohol-related

visits, and 5% percent of dental-related visits. 

Hygiene Connection E-Newsletter

October 2017